racteristic linguistic peculiarity of this than of any other region,
either in the Old World or in the New. It was to some extent employed by
the Aztecs,[142] and its use is current among the Japanese; in whose
language Crawfurd finds fourteen different classes of numerals "without
exhausting the list."[143]

In examining the numerals of different languages it will be found that the
tens of any ordinary decimal scale are formed in the same manner as in
English. Twenty is simply 2 times 10; 30 is 3 times 10, and so on. The word
"times" is, of course, not expressed, any more than in English; but the
expressions briefly are, 2 tens, 3 tens, etc. But a singular exception to
this method is presented by the Hebrew, and other of the Semitic languages.
In Hebrew the word for 20 is the plural of the word for 10; and 30, 40, 50,
etc. to 90 are plurals of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. These numerals are as
follows:[144]

10, eser, 20, eserim,
3, shalosh, 30, shaloshim,
4, arba, 40, arbaim,
5, chamesh, 50, chamishshim,
6, shesh, 60, sheshshim,
7, sheba, 70, shibim,
8, shemoneh 80, shemonim,
9, tesha, 90, tishim.

The same formation appears in the numerals of the ancient Phoenicians,[145]
and seems, indeed, to be a well-marked characteristic of the various
branches of this division of the Caucasian race. An analogous method
appears in the formation of the tens in the Bisayan,[146] one of the Malay
numeral scales, where 30, 40, ... 90, are constructed from 3, 4, ... 9, by
adding the termination _-an_.

No more interesting contribution has ever been made to the literature of
numeral nomenclature than that in which Dr. Trumbull embodies the results
of his scholarly research among the languages of the native Indian tribes
of this country.[147] As might be expected, we are everywhere confronted
with a digital origin, direct or indirect, in the great body of the words
examined. But it is clearly shown that such a derivation cannot be
established for all numerals; and evidence collected by the most recent
research fully substantiates the position taken by Dr. Trumbull. Nearly all
the derivations established are such as to remind us of the meanings we
have already seen recurring in one form or another in language after
language. Five is the end of the finger count on one hand--as, the Micmac
_nan_, and Mohegan _nunon_, gone, or spent; the Pawnee _sihuks_, hands
half; the Dakota _zapta